Well, the "study" is done, and Chancellor Henderson has expressed her appreciation for this new data. Any guesses on the major findings?

You're right, the "research" by the charter loan company supports the conversion of 36 more public schools into, yes, charter schools. Bill Turque at WaPo:

A new study commissioned
by D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray recommends that the city turn around or
close more than three dozen traditional public schools in its poorest
neighborhoods and expand the number of high-performing charter schools.

The findings of the study by the Chicago-based IFF,
to be made public Thursday, are likely to rekindle impassioned debate
about possible school closures and the future of public education in the
District. The study also signals the start of an unprecedented attempt
to coordinate decision making between two school sectors that have
operated independently and at times competed for funding and other
resources.

More than 40 percent of the city’s 78,000 public students
attend publicly funded, independently operated charter schools, the
largest concentration in the nation outside of New Orleans. At current
rates of growth, a majority of the city’s public enrollment could be in
charters within three to four years.

Some advocates of traditional
public schools have raised questions about possible bias in the study.
IFF, which provides financial support and real estate consulting to
nonprofit organizations, has made more than $57 million in loans to
charter schools, according to information it provided the District. The
study was underwritten by a $100,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation,
one of the nation’s leading benefactors of charter schools. Walton is
also a major private donor to D.C. Public Schools. Company officials
have said that their work looks at both school sectors objectively.

The
study could also eventually serve as the basis for another major round
of traditional public school closures, a politically and emotionally
bruising process last undertaken by then-Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee
during Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration. Although traditional
public school enrollment has leveled off at about 46,000 after decades
of decline, the system still has an excess of capacity. More than 40
schools have 300 or fewer students, many of them struggling
academically.

City officials said that decisions about any major
restructuring will not be made for at least a year and only after close
consultation with affected communities.

Gray (D) said Wednesday
that there is no basis for concerns that he will hand the city school
system over to charter schools, especially given the hundreds of
millions of dollars the District has invested in renovating and
rebuilding traditional school campuses.

“It’s ludicrous,” he said. “I believe very strongly in both sectors, and I’m looking for the best education solutions."

De’Shawn
Wright, the deputy mayor for education, said the plan is to meet with
Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who heads the school system, and charter
school leaders to map out a scenario for meeting the needs of
underserved neighborhoods.

The report is organized as a supply-and-demand analysis that divided the city into 39 groups of neighborhoods.

Using
a formula based on standardized test score trends and projections to
2016, it separated eligible public schools into quartiles, or four
performance tiers. Schools without adequate test data were excluded from
the study.

In schools designated Tier 1, anywhere from 60 to 100
percent of students tested at or above grade level and showed the
steepest improvement curves.

Researchers then looked at student
populations in each neighborhood cluster to determine which communities
had the largest shortage of seats in top-tier schools.

The biggest
shortage — about 27,000 seats — is concentrated within 10 neighborhood
clusters, most of them south and east of the Anacostia River in wards 7
and 8 and others cutting across portions of wards 1 and 5 in Northeast
and Northwest Washington. More than half of the shortfall is for
kindergarten through fifth grade.

The bulk of IFF’s findings are
not new, but they place in bolder relief than ever the dearth of good
schools in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Of the 45 schools assessed
by IFF as Tier 1, just six are in wards 7 and 8. All are public charter
schools. Of the 39 schools in Tier 4 — the lowest rating — 22 are in
wards 7 and 8. Eighteen are traditional public schools; four are public
charters.

Among the areas identified by IFF as having the greatest
need is the group of Ward 8 neighborhoods that includes Congress
Heights, Bellevue, Washington Highlands and Bolling Air Force Base. Only
two of the 14 schools studied in those neighborhoods are in Tier 1, and
they are both charters: Achievement Prep and Friendship Tech Prep. The
firm recommended attempting to turn around or close all four
traditional public schools in Tier 4 — Simon, Patterson,
Terrell-McGogney and Ferebee-Hope elementary — and closing two
bottom-rung charter schools, Center City Congress Heights (pre-K to 8)
and Imagine Southeast (pre-K to 5). It also suggested investing more
resources into improving a Tier 2 charter, Friendship Southeast
elementary.

The report says that any closures of traditional
public schools should be offset by new charters or building new
traditional schools.

Most of the other surveys of the 10 critical
neighborhood clusters follow the pattern. In all, 38 traditional public
schools and three charter schools were recommended for turnaround or
closure.

In the report, IFF urges the city to consider expanding
the footprint of charter schools in the 10 targeted neighborhood
clusters. It calls for the D.C. Public Charter School Board
to authorize about 6,500 new charter seats (current enrollment is about
32,000). It also recommends that the board “actively recruit the
highest performing charter school operators and ask them to replicate
their performing school model” in the top 10 clusters, using former
public school buildings as incentives.

It’s virtually certain that
city officials will tinker with IFF’s recommendations. The report lists
for turnaround or possible closure, for example, schools that have
received tens of millions of dollars in capital investment, including
the new H.D. Woodson High School in Ward 7.

Wright said the IFF
study would be just the beginning of a lengthy review requiring “lifting
the hood” over each underserved area for a close look at its needs.

“This is complicated work,” he said, “and it’s got to be done on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.”